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Traffic

How do I explain (the way a teacher would) that the sentence 'It's traffic' is incorrect? I just know that it doesn't sound good and that 'traffic' is not an adjective when you mean 'you got stuck in traffic' or 'traffic was heavy' or 'you caught a heavy traffic'.
And what are other possible alternatives?

Re: Traffic

Originally Posted by paochai01

How do I explain (the way a teacher would) that the sentence 'It's traffic' is incorrect? I just know that it doesn't sound good and that 'traffic' is not an adjective when you mean 'you got stuck in traffic' or 'traffic was heavy' or 'you caught a heavy traffic'.
And what are other possible alternatives?

"It's traffic" is a correct sentence. A: What do you call all those cars and bikes and buses?
B: It's traffic."I'm late because of the traffic".

No, it doesn't sound good if the sentence is used with an incorrect meaning.
"It was the traffic." is the excuse your students want.
You need to explain that they should use the past tense, because they are talking about something that happened in the past.
"It was the traffic that made me late".

Re: Traffic

Originally Posted by paochai01

Thanks! :)

Tell them if they keep talking that way, they'll end up slaving away in a Nike factory, being under-payed, undervalued, and resentful that they didn't put enough effort into their English at school.
BUT: Are they saying it to you as an attempt at standard English? If not, I wouldn't panic too much. All kids have their slang. As long as you're hearing it in the play-ground, it's probably not so bad.